Andy Lyman
New Mexico medical cannabis patients are afforded perks like tax breaks and higher THC levels, and at R. Greenleaf, a cannabis dispensary, a separate line.
Patients and advocates for years have warned that New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program might take a hit when dispensary doors opened to all adults 21 and over in April.
Now, six months later, the number of medical cannabis patients in the state is slowly but steadily declining. Officials who oversee the program attribute the decrease to patients opting not to renew their medical cards; they say the dip was expected and the downward trend will eventually reverse. But some patients say they’re worried this is the beginning of the end.
During the years leading up to full legalization, politicians repeatedly promised a never-ending life for the medical program, saying adult-use would not negatively impact it.
According to data published by the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program, a division of the state Department of Health, the number of medical cannabis patients rose steadily from about 57,000 in 2018 to a peak of roughly 135,000 in May. But each month since, the figure has dropped, with 126,000 enrolled patients in August, the most recent month for which figures are available. For Santa Fe County, there were 14,329 patients in May and 13,221 as of August.
Dr. Dominick Zurlo, director of the Medical Cannabis Program, tells SFR his office expected to see a decrease in patients based on trends in other states that shifted from requiring patients to register for medical use to broad sales for all adults, but that officials expect to see an increase in the coming months.
“It is what we saw with many other states, including our neighbors, for example, in Colorado,” Zurlo says. “After their adult use programs went into effect, they did see a decrease with enrollment for the medical patients. But after a while, that actually does start to increase again, and so you sort of have a leveling out.”
The state’s Cannabis Regulation Act exempts medical cannabis sales from both gross receipts and cannabis excise taxes. Zurlo says his office has received some card renewal applications from those who have let their cards lapse, but are having second thoughts about abandoning their patient status. Besides avoiding taxes, patients are able to buy edibles and extracts with higher levels of THC than non-patients
Zurlo cites a few factors for the decrease. The first, he says, is that three years ago lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham approved sweeping changes to the state’s medical program that, in part, pushed the renewal period for medical cannabis cards from one year to three. Second, he says, some patients have opted to pay higher prices for adult-use cannabis instead of renewing their cards.
But Larry Love, a longtime medical cannabis patient, disagrees with Zurlo’s assessment. Love says after adult-use sales began in April, many dispensaries placed a larger focus on products that only have THC and are missing key compounds many find therapeutic.
“It’s very hard to find full-extract cannabis oil, which is a real medicine,” Love says. “Everything is distillate now, all the edibles and so forth. So the medicine has been taken out of the cannabis. And it’s now just THC.”
Love predicts within three years, “there will be no program.”
But Zurlo tells SFR the program will not fold as long as there are patients in need of medical cannabis.
“We are going to continue having that program as long as there is a need,” Zurlo says. “I think that need has been expressed, and I do think we have a very strong medical program, and I think we’re going to continue to have a very strong medical program.”
Melissa Chambers, who uses medical cannabis for neuropathy and arthritis symptoms, says she uses Rick Simpson Oil, a full-spectrum product known as RSO. Chambers says she hasn’t struggled to find it.
“I haven’t noticed that because I do use [RSO]occasionally, like after I’ve had surgeries and stuff,” Chambers says. “So I’d be sad if that was the case.”
Chambers says she opted to keep her medical cannabis card despite having to shell out “a couple hundred dollars” to get a medical professional to sign off on her diagnosis. She says the cost of seeing a doctor more or less “evens out” when compared to the taxes she would pay without a medical card.
Chambers adds that the card provides a certain level of legitimacy to her cannabis use and she appreciates being able to buy the higher-THC products.
Cullen Vujosevic, another Santa Fe-based medical patient, says he thinks there are a “multitude of perfect-storm kind of factors” that are leading people to not renew their medical cannabis cards. He says patients are willing to pay taxes on their medicine, but many don’t understand the medical program’s benefits.
“[Patients are] not getting enough education, and that can either be from their provider or from the staff at the dispensaries,” Vujosevic says. “I mean, realistically even talking patient experience-wise here in New Mexico, some of our new licenses that have come online, they don’t know how to serve medical patients.”
